Fallen Star
by Akizuka Kirroha
Summary: She was the Guardian of the orb. That was all she had to live for. And the only meaning for her life was smashed brutally was her own hands. Every single part of her was broken beyond repair. And the only thing she could say was, "Sorry..." It's alright.
1. Alienation

**WARNING: If you have not yet finished playing Aveyond: Gates of Night, I suggest you DO NOT CONTINUE. Thank you for your kind cooperation.**

~ CHAPTER ONE ~

**_Alienation __- __Stella_**

**_

* * *

  
_**

_The Naylithians were happy people. _

I could see that, since the day I was born. _The Naylithians were happy people._ They smiled, they laughed, they polished each others' wings, they chuckled, they made peace.

I was happy, too. My mother would hug me in her arms, and show me the world on my tiny little blue wings. She would comb through my hair when I was little, and polish my wings. I was a happy person, too. I knew that I was happy, that my life would be one of love, joy, peace and beauty...

I _thought_ it would be.

It wasn't long before I realized one thing - other than my own mother, with her beautiful lavender hair and bright blue wings just like mine, nobody ever helped me polish my wings. Nobody helped me comb my hair. Nobody talked to me for more than two sentences. Nobody dared come too near me, either...

"Why, Mother?" I asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, there's nothing, little Stella," my mother would have that carefree smile on her lips.

_The Naylithians are happy people. _

But I wanted to be happy, too... I wanted them to smile at me, pat my head just like the other children, and ask, "Have you had a nice day, Stella?"

Yet, only my own mother actually called me "Stella". The others just called me "girl", "that girl", "that brown Wingless girl"...

"But I do have wings, Mother," I complained.

"They're just joking, Stella," smiled Mother - her eyes glazed over, blank...

And then she would teach me new words by reading me the dictionary. (_Pedophile_ - An older person with a strange liking for small children)

But I couldn't help wondering - what's Mother trying to hide from me? Who is my father? Why am I... Wingless?

* * *

_The Naylithians are happy people._

I understand now.

"Why... Why..." my mother cried, her eyes brimming with tears. "Why can't you just leave Stella out of this?!"

I stood there, limply. I didn't know if I was in shock, denial, or in the lack of emotion. I could feel the darkness welling up in the pits of my stomach. I struggled to fight back the tears.

"We value peace over everything else!" Theo yelled. "Yet you just have to fall in love with one of those violent Wingless - a magic wielder, none the less! Who knows what kind of violence this girl would grow up to possess? Now we're purposely making it hard for the Wingless to come up here, but it's too late now. You're glad we even let your child stay here!"

_Aren't they supposed to be peaceful... Aren't they supposed to be happy people..._

Lies, betrayal.

"I tell you - if that girl of yours shows any sign of magic or violence, she leaves!"

_The Naylithians are perhaps more complicated than you think..._

But I love this place. My home is here. Now that I knew my father was a human mage... My wings are the only things that tie my life to this beloved place of mine.

_I just... I just want everybody to be free... and fly like butterflies in the sunlight..._

_

* * *

  
_

_The Naylithians were happy people._

I could see the dark, green, lethal poison flowing in my mother's system. I yelled, screamed - nothing worked. Nobody believed me that she was poisoned - "She's just ill".

And I could feel their eyes on my back, watching me intently, as if waiting for me to do something...

"If you don't do anything, Mother will die!" I cried and screamed at the rest of them. "Don't you care at all?! Even if I might not be... My mother's one of you after all, right?!"

No response.

"Why-..."

I turned back to the fainted body of my dying mother, my tears streaming down my face in rivulets. _If only I could have the power to save others... what kind of a blessing that would be..._

The colors of the poison continued to dance around in my closed eyes, as I clutched my mother's hand, crying...

I saw the green in my eyes, the green venom in her blood, and I hoped - please turn red again...

And there was a blinding flash. And I had this horrible, dreadful feeling that told me - _it's the end. It's all over. You'll never be one of the Naylithians again, Stella, never..._

* * *

They were surprisingly kind. I was surprised at first.

"Girl - near Naylith, in the Rose Forest outside, there is a cave called the Seer's Cavern. Uh- Apparently there's a powerful orb in it, we want you to guard it because you- well, you are powerful."

I could see my healed mother in the back, shaking her head wildly, telling me _no, no..._

so be it.

"I will," I said emptily.

I knew this would come. But I'll thank them for their kindness for not throwing me out rudely anyway. At least - at least they're getting rid of me on the pretense of me "guarding a powerful orb".

I dragged my feet out - I felt their fake smiling faces on my back, their eyes crying in joy that I - being a curse - have finally left.

_So be it._

I sank my feet into the grass.

_The Naylithians are happy people..._

_They just don't want an alien like me to destroy their happiness._

So be it.

I saw the tunnel of the cave, and I peered into the darkness forth.

_Is this where I belong? A dark, deserted cave, with no companions but endless hordes of unfriendly monsters, nobody for me to cry on when I'm sad... _

I let myself fall onto the ground, hitting the cold stone, letting my hair fall, and I cried to the ground, why...

_Nobody who would talk to me and ask - _Stella, you alright...

"Little girl, you alright?"


	2. Trust

**Chapter Two – Trust – Stella**

_The sky was so dark, so cold, so cold..._ Even the moon was covered, and the tiny little blinking stars barely provided much light...

_I'm scared... Mommy, I'm scared... Please, take me back... I don't want to be here! I'm sorry, so please... let me go back to Naylith again!_

I looked forth into the even darker cave, and I cried. It just seems so... monstrous. Maybe they were lying... there was no orb in here, just ferocious, starving vampires ready to rip me apart and drink me dry...

I'm scared... _How I wish... that someone would just hold me right now..._

"Hey, little girl, are you alright?" The voice, however, wasn't that of kindness. It was of impatience, annoyance...

I covered my head with my hands, afraid. Who knows what's going to happen... But maybe it's a kind human who is just a bit gruff, who's willing to take me to a happy place, with grass and flowers just like Naylith, little sweet homes atop a hill-

"Move aside already, sunwalker." That voice sounded deeply annoyed now, almost angry.

What's 'sunwalker'? Mother never taught me that before... I looked up at the speaker, to see-

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" I screamed, seeing those blood red and hostile eyes. I ran, frightened, afraid... I didn't want to die...! But before I could run at least far enough, my leg got caught up in some brambles and I tripped - again.

_No... this-..._

"Thank you for moving aside," said the tall man again, completely ignoring my plight and moving into the cave.

"Hey master, can we get Cupcake to eateat her?" chanted the white-haired ones, their fangs gleaming in the moonlight.

"No need to get distracted," the man replied. "Don't stray from the given course. And anyway, she's quite a cute girl."

_Hey, wait... Mother once taught me a word... what was that...? Hmm... Oh! I remember!_

"Pe-do-phile," I said, pointing my finger at him and pronouncing every syllable loudly.

He stared back, a look of utter horror on his face. Then he closed his eyes and looked away, apparently irritated.

"Okay, boys, you can eat her."

_W-W-Wait! Did I say something wrong?!_

* * *

"Geez! That was scary!" I complained.

"Stop following me!"

"B-But there are lots of magical monsters here! I'll be killed by myself!" I cried.

"Suit yourself. I'll be killing you later anyway, so this matters naught to me."

And then, the apparently endless tunnel... ended. With a tiny chamber, and I see no orb.

_They lied..._ They told me there was a magical orb here, and they wanted me to guard it... but all they wanted was for me to be killed by these monsters...!

_How could they be so cruel... My mom said they were happy people! Why can't I be happy... too?_

I felt the tears welling up my eyes, and I tried blinking them away... but they just... kept on coming...

"Hey, girl, if you want to tag along, at least be of some use. You're from Naylith, aren't you? Where is the orb? Speak!"

_Liar... _

"If it was the Naylithians who told you about the orb..." I whispered, my head bowed, "There is no orb. They sent me here to get me killed. That's all."

I feel the tears on my cheeks now, as I wept. He came closer, and put his hand on my head, and-

"I'm not such an idiot, you airhead!" he yelled, grabbed my hair and shook it roughly. "I know there's an orb - you're not going to lie and get away with it. Now where is it? And why did they send you here? What is it you want?!"

"There is no orb." I replied in a monotone. "They apparently sent me here to guard the nonexistent orb, but I don't what to believe in anymore..."

He stared at me strangely, and burst out laughing. "_Guard_ the orb? Haha! So they've sent a guardian now? A little girl? Well, looks like I have to kill you, after all. _The orb has to be destroyed. _"

Wait... if there really is an orb, and this man isn't lying... Does that mean I have to protect it at the extent of my life?

"I will not let you destroy it!" I yelled, preparing myself in a battle position that I used to read from some strange looking panel thingies. "Prepare for my deadly attack! Um-"

He sighed. "You just don't learn, do you?" He waved a finger, and the next moment the hem of my skirt caught on fire.

"Yaaaaaaaaa!!!" I ran towards the water as fast as I could. As I quenched the fire, I sighed loudly - tripping yet again and landing right on a wall.

_Creak. _

"A- A door!" I cried, without thinking. Okay, that was a stupid thing to do, because immediately as I said that, the black-haired man and his two lackeys turned towards my direction.

"Say, girl," he smirked. "Maybe you aren't so useless after all."

"..."

Okay, that was a stupid thing to do.

* * *

I've never seen an orb as magnificent as this one. Actually, I've never seen any orbs, but this one, encircled with crystal, and filled with an unknown bright substance, lit up the cave. I watched it, fascinated...

Then I looked behind and see all those three standing far, far away, staring at me in irritation.

_Oooh, so they aren't coming near, huh..._

Well, since I'm going to become the guardian of this thing, maybe I should take it and keep it in a bagpack or something. That way, no vampires will come near me again, including those three weirdos, haha... I touched it.

It won't budge.

"Look, girl, are you having strange thoughts again? If that orb could be moved, I would have just smashed it a long time ago," said the man.

I stopped pushing it, but continued to stare, fixated, at the swirling light...

He tried to come closer, too, without getting scorched. "The Orb of Light, huh..." I could here him whispering.

"So it's true, then," he said. "I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. But there being an Orb of Light, there should be one of an opposite force as well..."

I could hear the glee in his voice this time. "So that's what we're looking for, eh?" he laughed softly.

_Wait... they came all the way here and couldn't destroy the orb, and yet they're so happy?_

Well- since the orb can't be moved, I shouldn't worry that much anymore, then. I guess I should just leave, go back to Naylith, and tell them-

"But we can't give up on destroying this thing yet. A descendant of the human sorcerer - worse yet, a mage, can still move it and use it on us."

... Okay, looks like I won't be returning anytime soon.

As the three left, I poked my head through the door to see them leave.

And he turned back to me.

"We should kill her now."

I widened my eyes, and then closed them. I wasn't surprised. After all, it might even be a blessing. I don't want to spend my life guarding some unknown orb without knowing its properties, all alone in a forsaken dungeon, with nobody to visit me but three bloodthirsty vampires who want nothing but to smash the thing I'm supposed to guard, and I won't be strong enough to stop them...

"It's alright," I whispered. "Kill me, then."

I looked up, and I could feel the tears back again, streaming faster than ever before.

"Because... Because... Because Stella doesn't want to live anymore, anyways... Forsaken by everyone she's known, doomed to have nothing but a dark, dark future... So kill Stella, okay...? Because you'll... you'd be doing Stella a favor..."

I sobbed, and looked away.

He looked at me. And then he looked away.

And left. I saw him slowly disappear from the end of the tunnel, away...


End file.
